April 2010 Update

05/04/11 22:24

Hi Everyone! Hope you are all enjoying spring. I think it just arrived here in Cork, and after the coldest winter ever, I'm hoping the sun will stay!

The daffodils are everywhere, and little primroses are springing up all over our grass. I just planted a herb garden, and hope to start vegetables this week! Well, a new season, a new update. May the Lord bless you for taking the time to read and pray!

We thank God for allowing us to be in Ireland, and for renewing our visas. We've been here now for over 6 years, and loving every bit! My family is actually out here visiting right now, so we've been really blessed to be able to hang out with them all. I'm going to miss them SO MUCH when they go! So, what's new..... I'm gonna try to make this short and reader-friendly :)

Praise God for:

*Our new Sunday school room! We added a wall to a corner in the church, and voila- now we have a large Sunday school room to accommodate the kids. It was built in just a day, with no hassle. A real answer to prayer.

*The team from Rainbow Church in California! We had a team out in March and they were such a blessing to us. They helped to paint and finish the wall, did dramas in the streets, helped with worship and teaching and outreach. We got to show them a bit of this lovely country we call home, and had a wonderful time.

*The women's study: we've started a series of women in the Bible, and all the girls have signed up to teach a different woman of the Bible. I'm SO blessed because it's something I've been desiring for years- to see the ladies in our group step out in faith and lead the study, and now they are!

*All the leprechauns that came to church on St. Patrick's Day and got saved.... Haha! Just kidding. But we did do outreach on St. Patrick's Day.

*Baby Dedication! This Sunday, Mike gets to dedicate one of the babies in the church, little Zoe. It's his first time dedicating a baby in our church, so it's really exciting for us all!

*A good friend of ours used his frequent flier miles to buy us tickets to visit California in November. This is such a blessing to us, and we couldn't afford to visit this year. So we hope to see you all then!

Please pray for:

*Mike as he has been counseling people through some especially difficult situations lately. Just pray for strength and wisdom for him, and for the people who are going through these difficulties!

*Outreach! Our Friday night tea and coffee outreach is happening as I type, so please pray the God's Word will go out, and people will be saved. Pray for more workers...

*The students: each semester we get a new group of students, who are usually gone by summer. Please pray that they feel welcomed and loved in our church, and that they come to know God in a deeper way while here. Over the years, we've been blessed to see many students get serious about their walk with God while here in Calvary Cork. Pray this keeps happening!

*Our new kid's ministry set up. We're still getting used to having two rooms for the kids- one for older kids and one for babies. Pray that both the workers and the parents are blessed by it and that we use all our resources in the best way possible.

*Our church retreat- I still haven't planned it yet, but I need to! Pray we find the perfect place and time to host our church retreat.

*Wisdom for Mike and me as parents of an autistic child. We are learning so many things every week that we are supposed to be doing with Eoin, and it can be very difficult to do it all! So just pray for the ability to be all that God wants us to be for our son. And praise God for Aan-Sofie and Donna, two amazing women who work tirelessly with Eoin and stop me from going a bit crazy sometimes!

*For continued financial provision for us as a family. I know things are tough, but God is bigger! Pray that I will know that all the time though :)

I have a big pot of Irish stew bubbling on the stove right now. It's been cooking for almost 4 hours. Yum! So I think I'd better go....

Thank you So MUCH for reading this! Please feel free to email us anytime. We love hearing from our brothers and sisters in Christ! We are one body.... many members. And by praying, you are a part of the work God is doing in Cork, Ireland. Yay!

In His Service, by His Strength,
-Mike and Rachel Neglia-